-Jan 20th. While I continued to help Sigurjon sort bags for part of yesterday, I had a conversation with a worker at the post. He was a carpenter hanging sheets of insulation, the indoor section where small delivery trucks enter. This fellow said that he was `clothing the building.` I.e, the Icelandic way of saying that he was putting up insulation. I treasure these little moments throughout the day, that is, when I strike up a conversation with people who don`t know English, the best way to practice. There`s always reluctance to do this, especially with a difficult language as Icelandic, yet each and every person with whom I come in contact are proud of me. That needs to be re-enforced by classes which, by the way, start this coming Monday evening. We`ll see how they go; only a month but maybe more in depth classes later. After all the post pays for all this including time spent in class itself.

-Another note about working at the post: I never really considered it as work since the people and bosses are great. The other feature which I realize more and more is that the post is not unlike one huge university which specializes in Icelandic. However, there is a problem not there but in Iceland generally speaking. With the exception of the elderly and very young, everyone speaks English. They love to practice it, so that`s a temptation to be avoided.

-The weather continues quite cold by Icelandic standards, about 5 degrees below freezing. But as many say, the cold is no problem, just the wind, but that for the most part hasn`t posed a problem. Cold in that our situation in the mid-Atlantic serves to moderate the temps.

-Suddenly this morning around 9.30 it became much lighter than I had noticed in recent days. I think it has to do with our location so far north, where the pear-shaped earth has a greater curvature compared with further south.